A Romanian citizen was sentenced Monday to more than four years in prison as the first foreign defendant convicted in a global crime ring that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from Internet users.
Ovidiu-Ionut Nicola-Roman pleaded guilty last year for his role in the "phishing" scheme, which involved sending fraudulent e-mails that included links directing recipients to fake Web sites where they were asked to input sensitive data. In all, 38 people have been charged in Connecticut and California, and more than half are Romanians.
Authorities say Nicola-Roman accessed e-mail accounts containing stolen credit card information and used the credit card numbers to steal between $200,000 and $400,000. He was sentenced Monday to 50 months in prison.
"Sitting at a computer in Romania, you in effect wreaked havoc upon the people whose credit card numbers you were stealing," U.S. District Court Judge Janet Hall said in her courtroom in Hartford, Conn. "Our economy rests upon people trusting they can use access cards, credit cards, debit cards. When the use of them is disrupted, it's no small pain to the victim. It is a damage to the economic system of our country."
Nicola-Roman, 23, of Craiova, Romania, was arrested in Bulgaria in 2007 and extradited to the United States. He told Hall that he has had a lot of time in jail to think about what he did "and how wrong it was."
"I just want to apologize to them," he said, referring to his victims.
But prosecutor Edward Chang said Nicola-Roman had to be "dragged through every admission he makes."
"It's clear that he is an individual who doesn't fully accept the enormity of what he has done," Chang said.
Prosecutors said the scam also operated from the United States, Canada, Portugal and Pakistan. Phishers based in Romania snagged information about thousands of credit and debit card accounts and other personal data from people who answered spam e-mail. The data were then sent to the U.S. and encoded on magnetic cards that could be used to withdraw money from bank accounts.
In Connecticut, seven Romanians allegedly spammed consumers with directions to visit a Web site posing as at least a half-dozen legitimate bank sites, including Citibank, Wells Fargo and PayPal.
Authorities say the thefts had a devastating effect on the victims, who face damaged credit ratings, fear of using the Internet and the prospect that their personal information was distributed and will remain in the public domain forever.
Prosecutors cited one victim with a handicapped child who could not access her money for almost five days, a businessman who was stuck in Ohio with no money to pay for a hotel and a woman who had to delay her vacation.
In 2007, 3.6 million victims lost $3.2 billion in the United States as a result of phishing attacks, prosecutors said, citing a Gartner survey. But due to difficulty investigating the cases, there have been only a handful of phishing prosecutions. Federal prosecutors said Nicola-Roman's case is a unique chance to warn overseas criminals about trying such schemes.
Nicola-Roman has said that he was partly motivated to help his sick mother. He asked Hall to give him a light sentence so he can study at a university, start a family and get a good job. "I will never be involved in such things again," he said.
When the judge asked why he didn't do that before, Nicola-Roman said he was too immature at 18 and 19 years old. "Now I'm mature and I know better," he said.
Defense attorney Ronald Resetarits said Nicola-Roman did not have a previous criminal record and has learned from his prison time.
"Prison time has been difficult for him," Resetarits said. "He's already received the message that he obviously can't do this."
SOURCE : http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102539937&ft=1&f=1001
Ovidiu-Ionut Nicola-Roman pleaded guilty last year for his role in the "phishing" scheme, which involved sending fraudulent e-mails that included links directing recipients to fake Web sites where they were asked to input sensitive data. In all, 38 people have been charged in Connecticut and California, and more than half are Romanians.
Authorities say Nicola-Roman accessed e-mail accounts containing stolen credit card information and used the credit card numbers to steal between $200,000 and $400,000. He was sentenced Monday to 50 months in prison.
"Sitting at a computer in Romania, you in effect wreaked havoc upon the people whose credit card numbers you were stealing," U.S. District Court Judge Janet Hall said in her courtroom in Hartford, Conn. "Our economy rests upon people trusting they can use access cards, credit cards, debit cards. When the use of them is disrupted, it's no small pain to the victim. It is a damage to the economic system of our country."
Nicola-Roman, 23, of Craiova, Romania, was arrested in Bulgaria in 2007 and extradited to the United States. He told Hall that he has had a lot of time in jail to think about what he did "and how wrong it was."
"I just want to apologize to them," he said, referring to his victims.
But prosecutor Edward Chang said Nicola-Roman had to be "dragged through every admission he makes."
"It's clear that he is an individual who doesn't fully accept the enormity of what he has done," Chang said.
Prosecutors said the scam also operated from the United States, Canada, Portugal and Pakistan. Phishers based in Romania snagged information about thousands of credit and debit card accounts and other personal data from people who answered spam e-mail. The data were then sent to the U.S. and encoded on magnetic cards that could be used to withdraw money from bank accounts.
In Connecticut, seven Romanians allegedly spammed consumers with directions to visit a Web site posing as at least a half-dozen legitimate bank sites, including Citibank, Wells Fargo and PayPal.
Authorities say the thefts had a devastating effect on the victims, who face damaged credit ratings, fear of using the Internet and the prospect that their personal information was distributed and will remain in the public domain forever.
Prosecutors cited one victim with a handicapped child who could not access her money for almost five days, a businessman who was stuck in Ohio with no money to pay for a hotel and a woman who had to delay her vacation.
In 2007, 3.6 million victims lost $3.2 billion in the United States as a result of phishing attacks, prosecutors said, citing a Gartner survey. But due to difficulty investigating the cases, there have been only a handful of phishing prosecutions. Federal prosecutors said Nicola-Roman's case is a unique chance to warn overseas criminals about trying such schemes.
Nicola-Roman has said that he was partly motivated to help his sick mother. He asked Hall to give him a light sentence so he can study at a university, start a family and get a good job. "I will never be involved in such things again," he said.
When the judge asked why he didn't do that before, Nicola-Roman said he was too immature at 18 and 19 years old. "Now I'm mature and I know better," he said.
Defense attorney Ronald Resetarits said Nicola-Roman did not have a previous criminal record and has learned from his prison time.
"Prison time has been difficult for him," Resetarits said. "He's already received the message that he obviously can't do this."
SOURCE : http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102539937&ft=1&f=1001
Labels: 419 scam, Nigerian Scam, scam, spam
Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009
A free laptop and an offer for a free Range Rover from Google [GOOG 347.70 -5.59 (-1.58%) ] might seem tempting enough. But maybe even more important in this ego driven world of ours: An increase in "followers" on your Twitter account. Telemarketers, phishers and schemers think that might be just the bait to get you hooked into some new scam.
My colleague Mike Huckman (pharmasmarket.cnbc.com) brought this to my attention yesterday afternoon after he noticed some new "followers" to his brand new account. He received "tweets" from "Kristen" and "Jason" and "Heather" notifying Mike that they were now following his updates on Twitter. Thrilled that he's developing a following, his good cheer was quickly dashed when he clicked on the note linking him to their profiles.
He was directed to, at least in two cases, something called "Craig's Business Success," a site generated by someone named Craig Peters from North Hollywood, California, offering to set you up with what he calls the "Google Cash Kit." He says he makes $5,500 to $7,000 a month just by posting links on Google. He even holds a $5,000 check, ostensibly from Google, and he's making $50,000 a month. Oh, and there's even a picture of his new car: A Range Rover! (Coincidence?) He'll send you the kit free, if you just pay $1.95 in shipping, and you'll start getting your first checks in about 48 hours.
No less than 41 references to "Google" on Peters' website, but it's the last three that should grab your attention: "Google is a trademark of Google Inc. GOOGLE does not endorse or sponsor this site and is no way affiliate with this site."
I emailed Google for comment, and a spokesman told me, " As Google is not affiliated with sites like this, we can't comment on individual claims. However, we recommend that users exercise the same amount of caution they would when evaluating other types of get rich quick claims. Our Legal team reviews them and takes appropriate action if necessary. You may also wish to note that we do provide users the ability to generate revenue through programs like Google AdSense and the Google Affiliate Network."
There's no contact information for Peters on the site, which is suspicious enough, but all of this is background drama to the real story: We all know the momentum surrounding Twitter and how much media attention this little company has gotten lately. (I just blogged last week that ongoing and regular outages of the service are beginning to frustrate users, who may have started using the service as a lark, but are now really relying on it to communicate; which means what used to be mere inconvenience could become something far more dire.) This just goes to show that Twitter is coming of age.
The company's quickly become part of the lexicon. Unlike "Google," Twitter was always a verb. Think birds and their pleasant singing. But Twitter has changed the definition almost overnight. And the new meaning of "tweets," or those short, 140 character missives on the Twitter site, threatens to supplant the old meaning of what else a bird does when it's trying to communicate. With mainstream penetration comes the steady prowl of those trying to take advantage of its success. And it's now happening to Twitter. It's attracting this kind of attention in the same way that virus writers who overlooked Apple for so long because of its paltry market share (why bother spending time on viruses for the Mac when so few would be affected) are now beginning to target the Mac community. Funny how 2-million-plus Macs sold every quarter will do that.
To its credit, Twitter seems to be on top of this latest scourge. Even though it only has a few dozen employees, and more than 4 million registered users, those account holders who suddenly took an interest in Mike's "tweets" have since been removed. Go to "Jason's" profile and you get the Twitter Owl, asking "Who goes there? Sorry, the account you were headed to has been suspended due to strange activity. Mosey along now, nothing to see here."
Now, if it can just do something about the reliability of its service. Oh, and coming up with an actual revenue model so it can actually make some money. Then, these guys might have a shot. Shooting down scam artists and "strange activity" so quickly is an impressive first step. Message to Twitterers, especially in an economy like this one: Beware.
You'd be surprised how much damage can be done, even in just 140 bytes or less.
SOURCE : http://www.cnbc.com/id/29863452
My colleague Mike Huckman (pharmasmarket.cnbc.com) brought this to my attention yesterday afternoon after he noticed some new "followers" to his brand new account. He received "tweets" from "Kristen" and "Jason" and "Heather" notifying Mike that they were now following his updates on Twitter. Thrilled that he's developing a following, his good cheer was quickly dashed when he clicked on the note linking him to their profiles.
He was directed to, at least in two cases, something called "Craig's Business Success," a site generated by someone named Craig Peters from North Hollywood, California, offering to set you up with what he calls the "Google Cash Kit." He says he makes $5,500 to $7,000 a month just by posting links on Google. He even holds a $5,000 check, ostensibly from Google, and he's making $50,000 a month. Oh, and there's even a picture of his new car: A Range Rover! (Coincidence?) He'll send you the kit free, if you just pay $1.95 in shipping, and you'll start getting your first checks in about 48 hours.
No less than 41 references to "Google" on Peters' website, but it's the last three that should grab your attention: "Google is a trademark of Google Inc. GOOGLE does not endorse or sponsor this site and is no way affiliate with this site."
I emailed Google for comment, and a spokesman told me, " As Google is not affiliated with sites like this, we can't comment on individual claims. However, we recommend that users exercise the same amount of caution they would when evaluating other types of get rich quick claims. Our Legal team reviews them and takes appropriate action if necessary. You may also wish to note that we do provide users the ability to generate revenue through programs like Google AdSense and the Google Affiliate Network."
There's no contact information for Peters on the site, which is suspicious enough, but all of this is background drama to the real story: We all know the momentum surrounding Twitter and how much media attention this little company has gotten lately. (I just blogged last week that ongoing and regular outages of the service are beginning to frustrate users, who may have started using the service as a lark, but are now really relying on it to communicate; which means what used to be mere inconvenience could become something far more dire.) This just goes to show that Twitter is coming of age.
The company's quickly become part of the lexicon. Unlike "Google," Twitter was always a verb. Think birds and their pleasant singing. But Twitter has changed the definition almost overnight. And the new meaning of "tweets," or those short, 140 character missives on the Twitter site, threatens to supplant the old meaning of what else a bird does when it's trying to communicate. With mainstream penetration comes the steady prowl of those trying to take advantage of its success. And it's now happening to Twitter. It's attracting this kind of attention in the same way that virus writers who overlooked Apple for so long because of its paltry market share (why bother spending time on viruses for the Mac when so few would be affected) are now beginning to target the Mac community. Funny how 2-million-plus Macs sold every quarter will do that.
To its credit, Twitter seems to be on top of this latest scourge. Even though it only has a few dozen employees, and more than 4 million registered users, those account holders who suddenly took an interest in Mike's "tweets" have since been removed. Go to "Jason's" profile and you get the Twitter Owl, asking "Who goes there? Sorry, the account you were headed to has been suspended due to strange activity. Mosey along now, nothing to see here."
Now, if it can just do something about the reliability of its service. Oh, and coming up with an actual revenue model so it can actually make some money. Then, these guys might have a shot. Shooting down scam artists and "strange activity" so quickly is an impressive first step. Message to Twitterers, especially in an economy like this one: Beware.
You'd be surprised how much damage can be done, even in just 140 bytes or less.
SOURCE : http://www.cnbc.com/id/29863452
Labels: email spam, Nigerian Scam, Nigerian Spam, Nigerianspam, scam
Posted on Friday, March 27, 2009
Fraudsters are using the logo of the Internal Revenue Service combined with the promise of federal stimulus money to dupe cash-strapped people into divulging credit-card information to a phony Web site, the International Trademark Association said.
It's the latest example of attempted identity theft rising amid the current economic turmoil, hitting a range of areas from mortgages to tax returns.
"It's unfortunate, but we are seeing counterfeiters take advantage of people at the worst time, economically speaking," said Alan Drewsen, the group's executive director. "We want people to remain vigilant online."
The so-called "phishing" email, which also displays photos of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, claims to offer people their portion of the recently approved stimulus bill. Recipients are instructed to click an email link and enter their personal financial information into a counterfeit Web site, the association said.
Such scams "are effective because they take advantage of a consumer's relationship with a trademark, brand or logo -- in this case, the governmental brand of the U.S. president and the IRS," the group said.
The Federal Trade Commission says the IRS doesn't ask for personal information via email. It urges consumers to forward any such email -- unopened -- to phishing@irs.gov, then delete it immediately.
SOURCE : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123803264428843907.html
It's the latest example of attempted identity theft rising amid the current economic turmoil, hitting a range of areas from mortgages to tax returns.
"It's unfortunate, but we are seeing counterfeiters take advantage of people at the worst time, economically speaking," said Alan Drewsen, the group's executive director. "We want people to remain vigilant online."
The so-called "phishing" email, which also displays photos of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, claims to offer people their portion of the recently approved stimulus bill. Recipients are instructed to click an email link and enter their personal financial information into a counterfeit Web site, the association said.
Such scams "are effective because they take advantage of a consumer's relationship with a trademark, brand or logo -- in this case, the governmental brand of the U.S. president and the IRS," the group said.
The Federal Trade Commission says the IRS doesn't ask for personal information via email. It urges consumers to forward any such email -- unopened -- to phishing@irs.gov, then delete it immediately.
SOURCE : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123803264428843907.html
Labels: Email fraud, Nigerian Scam, Nigerian Spam, Nigerianspam, scam, spam
Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009
A University of Minnesota Law School professor filed a report to University police last week after receiving an e-mail that claimed to be from an assassin threatening to kill her if she did not pay $30,000.
University police Sgt. Erik Stenemann said the e-mail was part of a mass phishing scam that does not target recipients for any specific reasons.
"There is no reason as to who gets [the e-mails]," he said. "The 'hit-man' routine is two or three years old."
The source of the e-mail was traced back to Lagos, Nigeria , Stenemann said.
Police do not often arrest the creators of the e-mails, Stenemann said, because "we don't have jurisdiction in Lagos, Nigeria."
The only thing police can do is "throw a lure" to try to engage in e-mail conversation with the original sender in order to find more information on how the scam works.
University police deal with about one of these cases every month, Stenemann said. He said people should not be worried if they receive a similar e-mail and the best thing to do is delete it.
SOURCE : http://www.mndaily.com/2009/03/22/morbid-spam-hits-law-school
University police Sgt. Erik Stenemann said the e-mail was part of a mass phishing scam that does not target recipients for any specific reasons.
"There is no reason as to who gets [the e-mails]," he said. "The 'hit-man' routine is two or three years old."
The source of the e-mail was traced back to Lagos, Nigeria , Stenemann said.
Police do not often arrest the creators of the e-mails, Stenemann said, because "we don't have jurisdiction in Lagos, Nigeria."
The only thing police can do is "throw a lure" to try to engage in e-mail conversation with the original sender in order to find more information on how the scam works.
University police deal with about one of these cases every month, Stenemann said. He said people should not be worried if they receive a similar e-mail and the best thing to do is delete it.
SOURCE : http://www.mndaily.com/2009/03/22/morbid-spam-hits-law-school
Labels: 419 scam, Email fraud, Nigerian Scam, Nigerian Spam, Nigerianspam, spam
Posted on Monday, March 23, 2009
HANOI, Mar 20, 2009 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- Vietnam's mobile phone users are having to cope with increasingly frequent advertisements sent as text messages to their phones.
The proliferation of mobile phone spam has prompted some to call for more effective measures to protect phone users.
While many are now used to their email in boxes being flooded with spam, electronic junk mail sent to mobile phones poses a new level of intrusion by advertisers who promote a wide range of services, including fortune-telling and marriage consultancy.
Nguyen Hai Ha from the University of Transport in Hanoi said he finds mobile phone span to be highly annoying.
I get so angry when I receive any spam SMS, said Ha. There are days when I receive more than 10 unwanted SMS messages with the same content, saying that I won an award worth 50,000 VND (2.9 USD). If I reply, I would lose 15,000 VND (0.8 USD) without receiving anything to pay for the reply.
Many others also find this form of advertising unethical and unwelcome.
When I was riding my motorbike to work, I received a message but when I opened my phone, it was a spam SMS advertising fortune-telling services, says Hoang Manh Hung, a businessman in Hanoi.
These types of messages cost me a lot of time. I think authorised agencies, particularly mobile phone network service providers, should apply better measures to strictly punish those who send spam SMS.
One reason for the boom in mobile phone spam is that cheap SIM cards are abundant on the market, creating favourable conditions for advertising companies to send ads to users by SMS at a low cost.
A SIM card worth 50,000 VND includes 160,000 VND in credit on the mobile phone account.
MobileFones PR manager Tran Thuy Hanh said the company would cancel the account of any content providers who send mobile phone spam. Many other mobile phone services providers have pledged to protect consumers interests but this is easier said than done, as the senders of spam SMS can be very difficult to track down.
A representative from Viettel, the army-run telecommunications company, said the company had cooperated with digital content providers to ban the sending of mobile phone spam from numbers with advertising codes.
Clients could protect themselves by registering a call-blocking service to prevent spam SMS, he said.
In order to help prevent mobile phone spam, the Ministry of Information and Communications compiled a circular on preventing spam, which took effect last month.
Under the regulation, SMS advertisements must carry a code and provide methods for phone users to opt out of receiving their ads. Advertisers must stop sending the text messages within 24 hours of a receivers opting out. It a business keeps spending the spam to customers who have opted out, the business will be punished.
Vu Quoc Khanh, director of the Vietnam Computer Response Team (VNCERT) under the Information and Communications Ministry, said the team was working with the ministrys inspectorate to check content providers and inspect contracts between content providers and mobile phone service providers.
Those content providers who are found violating regulations on spam would be strictly punished, with their spam advertising revenues at stake, said Khanh.
For serious violations, a business must take legal responsibility, he said.
The ministry had increased inspection of businesses involved in SMS advertisements and actively handled registrations by some advertising companies to allow them to send SMS ads legally, he said.
It has also increased information dissemination to raise awareness among the public and businesses on the new anti-spam decree to encourage businesses to abide by the regulations.
SOURCE : http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/03/20/4070992.htm
The proliferation of mobile phone spam has prompted some to call for more effective measures to protect phone users.
While many are now used to their email in boxes being flooded with spam, electronic junk mail sent to mobile phones poses a new level of intrusion by advertisers who promote a wide range of services, including fortune-telling and marriage consultancy.
Nguyen Hai Ha from the University of Transport in Hanoi said he finds mobile phone span to be highly annoying.
I get so angry when I receive any spam SMS, said Ha. There are days when I receive more than 10 unwanted SMS messages with the same content, saying that I won an award worth 50,000 VND (2.9 USD). If I reply, I would lose 15,000 VND (0.8 USD) without receiving anything to pay for the reply.
Many others also find this form of advertising unethical and unwelcome.
When I was riding my motorbike to work, I received a message but when I opened my phone, it was a spam SMS advertising fortune-telling services, says Hoang Manh Hung, a businessman in Hanoi.
These types of messages cost me a lot of time. I think authorised agencies, particularly mobile phone network service providers, should apply better measures to strictly punish those who send spam SMS.
One reason for the boom in mobile phone spam is that cheap SIM cards are abundant on the market, creating favourable conditions for advertising companies to send ads to users by SMS at a low cost.
A SIM card worth 50,000 VND includes 160,000 VND in credit on the mobile phone account.
MobileFones PR manager Tran Thuy Hanh said the company would cancel the account of any content providers who send mobile phone spam. Many other mobile phone services providers have pledged to protect consumers interests but this is easier said than done, as the senders of spam SMS can be very difficult to track down.
A representative from Viettel, the army-run telecommunications company, said the company had cooperated with digital content providers to ban the sending of mobile phone spam from numbers with advertising codes.
Clients could protect themselves by registering a call-blocking service to prevent spam SMS, he said.
In order to help prevent mobile phone spam, the Ministry of Information and Communications compiled a circular on preventing spam, which took effect last month.
Under the regulation, SMS advertisements must carry a code and provide methods for phone users to opt out of receiving their ads. Advertisers must stop sending the text messages within 24 hours of a receivers opting out. It a business keeps spending the spam to customers who have opted out, the business will be punished.
Vu Quoc Khanh, director of the Vietnam Computer Response Team (VNCERT) under the Information and Communications Ministry, said the team was working with the ministrys inspectorate to check content providers and inspect contracts between content providers and mobile phone service providers.
Those content providers who are found violating regulations on spam would be strictly punished, with their spam advertising revenues at stake, said Khanh.
For serious violations, a business must take legal responsibility, he said.
The ministry had increased inspection of businesses involved in SMS advertisements and actively handled registrations by some advertising companies to allow them to send SMS ads legally, he said.
It has also increased information dissemination to raise awareness among the public and businesses on the new anti-spam decree to encourage businesses to abide by the regulations.
SOURCE : http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/03/20/4070992.htm
Labels: Email fraud, email spam, Nigerian Scam, Nigerian Spam, scam, spam, spam news
Posted on Friday, March 20, 2009
In tough times, scam artists are taking advantage of people who are trying to keep their money safe and sound.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates teamed up with the Better Business Bureau to help educate and protect consumers from the top scams.
A special phone bank was set up Wednesday afternoon for people to ask questions, report a company, file a complaint or to get more information about a company.
Kathleen Calligan with the BBB suggested the top scams to avoid.
Number five on the list was the mystery-shopper scam.
The scam artists run advertisements looking for secret shoppers, offering cash to check out stores. The problem is that they send a counterfeit check, usually for thousands of dollars, and then ask you to send several hundred dollars back.
The next scam the BBB said to watch out for was the foreclosure-rescue scam. More people fall victim to this scam as they fall behind on their mortgages.
"They show up at your home and they give you the hope that you're going to be able to stay in your home," said Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan.
The third scam to avoid was the stimulus-package scam.
After President Barrack Obama signed the economic stimulus plan into law, websites started offering free advice on how to obtain government grants.
The websites claim they can help you get grants to pay your bills or get out of debt. The government does not give grants like that, and the BBB has found that consumers who have turned to these companies often find charges for services on their credit cards.
Credit-repair scams are the second scam on the BBB's top list. The scam promised to raise your credit score or erase bad debt for a price.
Brenda Bell fell victim to the scam.
"They said some things that were on my credit report - they were going to take them off," said Bell.
The company charged Bell $250 and promised that her credit score would be higher within six months, but she said it never changed.
"It is the most misleading and untruthful ad we have out there today," said Calligan.
The top business practice to avoid was the debt-negotiation scam where companies claim they will get you out of debt and lower an upfront fee.
The BBB said some companies take your money and run, and you wind up even deeper in debt.
SOURCE : http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10032480&nav=menu374_2_2
NewsChannel 5 Investigates teamed up with the Better Business Bureau to help educate and protect consumers from the top scams.
A special phone bank was set up Wednesday afternoon for people to ask questions, report a company, file a complaint or to get more information about a company.
Kathleen Calligan with the BBB suggested the top scams to avoid.
Number five on the list was the mystery-shopper scam.
The scam artists run advertisements looking for secret shoppers, offering cash to check out stores. The problem is that they send a counterfeit check, usually for thousands of dollars, and then ask you to send several hundred dollars back.
The next scam the BBB said to watch out for was the foreclosure-rescue scam. More people fall victim to this scam as they fall behind on their mortgages.
"They show up at your home and they give you the hope that you're going to be able to stay in your home," said Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan.
The third scam to avoid was the stimulus-package scam.
After President Barrack Obama signed the economic stimulus plan into law, websites started offering free advice on how to obtain government grants.
The websites claim they can help you get grants to pay your bills or get out of debt. The government does not give grants like that, and the BBB has found that consumers who have turned to these companies often find charges for services on their credit cards.
Credit-repair scams are the second scam on the BBB's top list. The scam promised to raise your credit score or erase bad debt for a price.
Brenda Bell fell victim to the scam.
"They said some things that were on my credit report - they were going to take them off," said Bell.
The company charged Bell $250 and promised that her credit score would be higher within six months, but she said it never changed.
"It is the most misleading and untruthful ad we have out there today," said Calligan.
The top business practice to avoid was the debt-negotiation scam where companies claim they will get you out of debt and lower an upfront fee.
The BBB said some companies take your money and run, and you wind up even deeper in debt.
SOURCE : http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10032480&nav=menu374_2_2
Labels: ATM Scam, email spam, Nigerian Scam, Nigerian Spam, scam, spam
Posted on Thursday, March 19, 2009
The Securities and Exchange Commission today brought enforcement actions against 14 specialist firms for unlawful proprietary trading on several regional and options exchanges. The firms agreed to settle the SEC's charges by collectively paying nearly $70 million in disgorgement and penalties.
The SEC charged the specialist firms for violating their fundamental obligation to serve public customer orders over their own proprietary interests by "trading ahead" of customer orders, or "interpositioning" the firms' proprietary accounts between customer orders.
"These firms violated the public trust by abusing the privileged position they had as specialists on the various exchanges," said James Clarkson, Acting Director of the SEC's New York Regional Office. "Today's enforcement action demonstrates that the SEC has no tolerance for unscrupulous trading practices, and will work vigorously to protect investors from improper trading conduct."
David Rosenfeld, Associate Director of the SEC's New York Regional Office, added, "Specialists who engage in unlawful proprietary trading hurt the investing public and undermine confidence in the fairness of our capital markets. We will aggressively pursue market professionals who engage in improper trading and hold them accountable for their actions."
The SEC's investigation into the improper trading began with a referral from the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). Lori Richards, Director of OCIE, said, "The SEC expects strict compliance with the trading rules governing market participants."
The Commission instituted settled administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings against eight specialist firms:
The SEC charged the specialist firms for violating their fundamental obligation to serve public customer orders over their own proprietary interests by "trading ahead" of customer orders, or "interpositioning" the firms' proprietary accounts between customer orders.
"These firms violated the public trust by abusing the privileged position they had as specialists on the various exchanges," said James Clarkson, Acting Director of the SEC's New York Regional Office. "Today's enforcement action demonstrates that the SEC has no tolerance for unscrupulous trading practices, and will work vigorously to protect investors from improper trading conduct."
David Rosenfeld, Associate Director of the SEC's New York Regional Office, added, "Specialists who engage in unlawful proprietary trading hurt the investing public and undermine confidence in the fairness of our capital markets. We will aggressively pursue market professionals who engage in improper trading and hold them accountable for their actions."
The SEC's investigation into the improper trading began with a referral from the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). Lori Richards, Director of OCIE, said, "The SEC expects strict compliance with the trading rules governing market participants."
The Commission instituted settled administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings against eight specialist firms:
- Botta Capital Management L.L.C.;
- Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC;
- Group One Trading L.P.;
- Knight Financial Products LLC;
- Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing L.P.;
- SLK-Hull Derivatives LLC;
- Susquehanna Investment Group;
- TD Options LLC.
Labels: 419 scam, Nigerian Scam, Nigerian Spam, scam, spam
Posted on Friday, March 13, 2009
US-CERT is aware of public reports of two new attack vectors for a vulnerability affecting Adobe Reader and Acrobat. This vulnerability is due to a buffer overflow condition that exists in the way Adobe Acrobat Reader handles JBIG2 Streams.
When Adobe Reader is installed on a system, it adds an IFilter that allows applications such as the Windows Indexing Service to index PDF files. If the Windows Indexing Service processes a malicious PDF file stored on the system, the vulnerability can be exploited. Exploitation using this technique can require little to no user interaction.
In addition to adding an IFilter, the Adobe Acrobat and Reader installation process adds a Windows Explorer Shell Extension. If Windows Explorer displays a folder that contains a malicious PDF file, the vulnerability can be exploited. Exploitation using this technique also requires little to no user interaction.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to incorporate the following workarounds to help mitigate the risks:
When Adobe Reader is installed on a system, it adds an IFilter that allows applications such as the Windows Indexing Service to index PDF files. If the Windows Indexing Service processes a malicious PDF file stored on the system, the vulnerability can be exploited. Exploitation using this technique can require little to no user interaction.
In addition to adding an IFilter, the Adobe Acrobat and Reader installation process adds a Windows Explorer Shell Extension. If Windows Explorer displays a folder that contains a malicious PDF file, the vulnerability can be exploited. Exploitation using this technique also requires little to no user interaction.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to incorporate the following workarounds to help mitigate the risks:
- Locate and unregister the Adobe Reader IFilter using: regsvr32 /u AcroRdIF.dll
- Locate and unregister the Adobe Acrobat IFilter using: regsvr32 /u AcroIF.dll
- Disable Adobe Acrobat Windows Shell integration to help mitigate the risk. This can be disabled by executing the following command: regsvr32 /u "%CommonProgramFiles%\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\pdfshell.dll"
Labels: 419 scam, email spam, Nigerian Scam, Nigerian Spam, scam, spam
Posted on Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Adobe has released Security Bulletin APSB09-01 to address multiple vulnerabilities in Flash Player. These vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code, cause a denial of service condition, conduct Clickjacking attacks, or operate with escalated privileges.
Labels: 419 scam, ATM Scam, email scam, lottery scam, Nigerian Scam, Nigerian Spam, scam, spam, spam news
Posted on Monday, March 2, 2009
Tax scams: new spin, old tricks
Getting caught in a tax scam.
Every year at tax time, fraudsters come up with new variations on scams involving bogus refunds, fake audits and surefire methods to avoid paying taxes.
Whatever the method, the basic aim is to separate you from your hard-earned cash. Some may say the Internal Revenue Service has the same goal, but there's a big difference--if you lose money to a tax scam, you'll still owe your taxes.
You can avoid most tax scams by remembering three basic rules:
-- The IRS never sends unsolicited e-mails.
-- The IRS never requests passwords, PINs or other secret access information for bank or credit card accounts.
-- People who claim that taxes are illegal--and thus you don't have to pay them--are delusional, scammers or both.
Here are examples of recent tax scams. The new ones that crop up are likely to be variations on their themes:
-- Income taxes are illegal!
The people who make this claim generally have thick notebooks or PowerPoint presentations and use them to cite historical or other evidence that you don't have to pay taxes.
A variation is that taxes are purely "voluntary" based on the wording of tax laws.
The IRS has successfully waged court battles against these types of claims, showing that they were misinterpretations of the Constitution or laws, or simply fraudulent.
But, judging from federal lawsuits, people have paid millions of dollars for seminars, books and other materials claiming to show that taxes aren't legal.
-- E-mail--your refund is ready.
This one cropped up over the last couple of years. It's an e-mail that appears to have come from the IRS, saying that the agency owes you an additional amount of money.
In the 2008 version, that amount in many cases was $134.80, leading to speculation that the messages were sent out from the same scammer or group.
What makes this e-mail particularly believable is that it's not a claim that you've won a lottery you never entered or that a relative you've never heard of has given you an inheritance. The IRS really does give out refunds.
But, of course, not in this case. The first tip-off should have been that the e-mail was not sent to recipients by name--it was just spam.
The e-mail requested the recipient's credit or debit card number for "direct deposit." But what the scammer had in mind was a withdrawal.
-- E-mail--IRS online survey.
Who wouldn't want to tell the IRS what he or she thought of the agency?
Especially if the person doing the telling gets paid to do so.
In a scam e-mail that began circulating a couple of years ago, consumers were asked to take an online satisfaction survey about IRS services.
There were only eight questions and the payoff was $80, paid directly into your credit card account.
As in the refund scam, the victim was asked to enter credit card information, and then came a message saying, "Your account will be credited within the next three business days."
By then, your money would be long gone.
-- E-mail--see you in court.
Perhaps the most disturbing of IRS scams cropped up last year in an official-looking e-mail that appeared to be from the U.S. Tax Court.
The message said that the "commissioner" of Internal Revenue was suing the recipient for not paying all taxes owed. For additional information on the matter, a link was provided to www.ustaxcourt.org.
But the real address for the court is www.ustaxcourt.gov.
The "org" site has been shut down. But generally, these kinds of fake pages are used by scammers to gather information to use in identity theft, or to disseminate viruses and other malware.
-- Who's at the door?
It could be the IRS, but only if an agency representative has called ahead. Also, real IRS agents carry agency photo identification.
But the agency says there have been cases of impostors showing up at homes and demanding payments on the spot.
SOURCE : http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/sns-yourmoney-0329taxscams,0,1769951.story?page=1
Labels: Email fraud, Nigerian Scam, Nigerian Spam, scam, spam
Posted on Monday, March 30, 2009